Canon City Breaking News, Sports, Weather, Traffic

Florence City Council learns more about Explorers program

By Charlotte Burrous

burrousc@canoncitydailyrecord.com

Posted:
05/05/2014 09:26:47 PM MDT

Florence — During Monday's Florence City Council meeting, Chief Mike DeLaurentis introduced members of the Boy Scout Explorers, who spoke about their involvement in the new program that the Florence Police Department recently introduced to the area.

Local teens, between the ages of 14 and 20, have an opportunity to explore a law enforcement career before most of them graduate from high school.

Also Monday, the council approved to amend a contract on the Booster Pump Station and West Tank after engineer Richard Saxton updated the council on the water projects in the region.

The west tank is a $1.5 million while the east tank is estimated to cost about $484,530, bringing the total cost to $1.678,730.

"It would save quite a bit of money," he said. "You could openly put it out for bid, but my guess is (if the council amends the contract), it will save quite a bit of administrative costs."

The water projects include the North Reservoir lining and piping, which was recently completed. Crews are working on the West Tank and Booster Pump Station and the South Reservoir. Other projects are East Tank, Satellite Meter Road and the E. Main Street water line.

During the visitor's section, resident Mike Vendetti invited the council to visit his social media site named "Florence, Colorado," where he recently conducted a straw poll on recreational marijuana, which 37 voted in favor of it while 12 voted no.

Advertisement

"We all realize that this may not represent how the majority of the town feels about this issue," he said. "In fact, nobody knows how the majority of the town feels about this issue, not even if we held a vote because only a percentage of the town is registered to vote, and only a percentage of them will vote."

Resident Dick Upton invited the council to an open house of the Florence Pioneer Museum, which will be from 5-7 p.m. May 14 at 100 E. Front St. The museum will open to the public for the season from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, starting May 15.

In other business, the council made the following decisions:

— Approved the closure of N. Pikes Peak Ave. from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 19-20 for Junktique during Pioneer Day festivities.

— Approved an ordinance on first reading to amend the section on permitted uses in light industrial zone districts.

ODESSA, Texas (AP) — A West Texas man has been charged with impersonating an officer by using sirens and flashing lights to skip to the head of the drive-thru line at a fast-food restaurant. Full Story